APART from following our passion of being on the water, sailing and organising environmental clean-up campaigns, we also love to travel within the country and the region. Over the last few years we have travelled to a number of exotic and interesting places and I would like to share these wonderful experiences with you. The first one I will write about is our most recent journey to Pulau Weh, Sumatra.
Just a few weeks ago we attended the inaugural ‘Sabang International Regatta 2011’, the first ever international regatta to Sumatra, Indonesia jointly organised by Indonesia’s Culture and Tourism Ministry together with the Aceh government, the Sabang local government and the Indonesian Sailing Federation. The goal of this event was to promote Pulau Weh and the Aceh province as a tourist destination to the international world.
The regatta started at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club and went to Pulau Weh, a little island off the north-western tip of Sumatra and just a 45- minute fast-ferry ride away from Banda Aceh. It was a three-day, two-night non-stop sailing trip crossing the Straits of Malacca, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
Cool respite: The writer taking a break to enjoy a fresh coconut. Well, I have to admit I prefer blue water cruising rather than racing in a sailing regatta and crossing oceans. The Andaman Sea between Malaysia and Sumatra was quite rough, we had strong head-winds all the way, the most difficult sailing condition and one night we were hit by a ‘Sumatra’.
A ‘Sumatra’ is a storm coming from the direction of Sumatra. Just before the storm hits the weather is very calm, dark clouds build up quickly, then a cool wind can be felt and soon it develops into a storm with strong wind, sometimes up to 40 knots with heavy rain.
We also had to organise ‘watch shifts’ at night to look out for the huge tankers and container ships coming from all over the world through the Malacca Straits to get to their final destinations. You really don’t want to collide with any of them. Every two hours, the ‘watch crew’ changes, so that everybody had at least a few hours sleep at night.
After quite an exhausting trip we finally arrived in Pulau Weh and found an unspoiled little paradise. Deep turquoise water, beautiful white beaches, pristine nature and almost no tourism, yet.
We enjoyed a number of sailing trips around Pulau Weh, went scuba diving at beautiful coral reefs and explored this remarkably picturesque island with pleasure and fun. We also went to Banda Aceh which was so badly destroyed by the tsunami on Dec 26, 2004. The visit to Banda Aceh was part of the organised Regatta programme.
We boarded the ferry in Sabang, the capital of Pulau Weh and after 45 minutes we arrived in Banda Aceh where we were welcomed by a very talented local dancing performance group. A bus picked us up and a very interesting day began.
Our first destination was the Baiturrahman Mosque, the only building in that area that was not destroyed by the tsunami. The next destination was Lampulo, a fisherman village north of Banda Aceh where we could see one of many tsunami relics. A huge fishing boat, now nicknamed The Noah’s Ark of Lampulo was washed away from the nearby fishing port into Lampulo, about one kilometre inland, by the furious waves of the tsunami. The boat now rests on top of a house and can be visited via a pedestrian walkway.
About one-third of Banda Aceh simply disappeared and is now under water. All the former rice paddies have been washed away, roads, houses ... all gone.
Another amazing tsunami relic and tourist attraction we saw is the PLTD Apung 1, a former offshore power station vessel that anchored off shore when the tsunami hit Aceh. This 2,600 tonne vessel was swept three kilometres inland by the massive earthquake and tsunami waves. PLTD Apung 1 has now been converted into an onshore electric power generator at the location where it came to rest after the tsunami subsided.
The people of Banda Aceh have built a tsunami museum which is extremely well done. You enter the museum by walking through a dark tunnel and getting sprinkled by waterfalls running down the walls. As you walk up slowly, dim light appears and gets lighter and lighter. The tunnel symbolises the darkness of being swept up in a tsunami wave, but hope slowly emerges symbolised by the increasing light. You end up in a very high round room where all the names of the tsunami victims are engraved in the wall.
The manager of the museum made a very interesting comment: “The good thing that came out of the tsunami was that the civil war in Aceh stopped and people are now working together to rebuild their city and their future.”
Pulau Weh is one of the most loved islands in Sumatra. It is famous for its peacefulness, its beauty and for its very sociable and welcoming people. Weh’s rugged terrain, rocky coves, harbour views, hillside lookouts, marvellous small beaches and sleepy traditional villages all attest to Weh’s unique attraction. Coming to Sabang, the capital of Pulau Weh, is like travelling back into a different era with its old colonial buildings and unique atmosphere.
Both Pulau Weh and Banda Aceh are very worthwhile destinations to visit which we highly recommend.
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